Analysis and Opinion on the Climate and Sustainability Debate, edited @Chair of Climate Communication, University of Hamburg
by Michael Brüggemann
One of the many privileges of holding a Professorship at the University of Hamburg and being involved in the Cluster of Excellence, which unites researchers from different disciplines around the issue of climate change (see CLICCS website ), is that you have the opportunity to meet and have lunch with highly inspiring and thought-provoking people such as Hans von Storch.
Continue reading After Lunch Posts: Talking Climate Change with Hans von Storch
A new study by Samset et al. (2020) in Nature Communcations finds that even under strong and sustained mitigation efforts, it will take the climate system until mid-century to demonstrate a discernible cooling response. Unfortunately, we must accept and live with the frustrating fact that the global climate system is a rather gigantic tanker ship that will change its course only several decades after humanity has decided to pull the emissions steering wheel into another direction. Yet, we should also think about what may motivate immediate action to reduce the risk of climate collapse in the far future. Rather than only fixating on the nebulous, future benefits of present-day climate protection, I would suggest that communicators should focus on highlighting positive short-term side effects of climate protection measures.
Continue reading Let’s focus on the short-term benefits of long-term climate protection!
by Eduardo Alastrué de Asenjo
As natural scientists, we hopefully learn multiple concepts about uncertainty throughout our education and research, and, at some point, the time will come when we need to put them into practice. This post comes from the necessity of a first approach to assemble some of the multiple guidelines and recommendations that we receive regarding climate change communication. I am not referring particularly to the topic of communication in newspapers or TV, but to a much more mundane request. In this case, my goal is to have a structured set of rules or steps that a natural scientist working on climate change can follow when trying to address a day-to-day conversation on the topic.
Continue reading A Short Personal Guide to Climate Change Conversations
von Michael Brüggemann und Fenja De Silva-Schmidt
In seinem Kommentar zur Klimapolitik hat sich der Innenpolitik-Chef der FAZ kürzlich schwer vertippt: Er schreibt, es gäbe „die Verpflichtung, bis 2050 die Erwärmung deutlich unter zwei Grad zu senken“. Dabei ist es natürlich so, dass sich die Zwei-Grad-Grenze, so wie sie die Staatengemeinschaft 2015 in Paris beschlossen hat, auf das Jahr 2100 bezieht. Fehler können passieren und gehören zum journalistischen wie zu jedem anderen Handwerk dazu – genauso wie eine öffentliche Korrektur des Fehlers, mit Publikation möglichst an gleicher Stelle.
Dass ein solcher Fehler bei einer der führenden Qualitätszeitungen vorkommt, hat aber möglicherweise tieferliegende Gründe: Die Zwei-Grad-Grenze bietet keine Anleitung und wenig Anreiz für gute Klimapolitik in der Gegenwart. Continue reading Warum das Zwei-Grad-Ziel ein (Kommunikations-) Problem ist
The last month of the year has begun, Christmas decorations are taking over the cities, and another climate conference has started.
From December 2-13, COP25 will take place in Madrid. The conference was overshadowed by organisational issues: Continue reading ‘Tis the season again: COP25 in Madrid has started
Edit 8 November: The vote is already closed now and the winners have been announced yesterday: they are two young women with their impressive poetic video “Rise”, which you can watch here.
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The British climate communication organisation Climate Outreach has initiated the Climate Communication Awards to recognise outstanding individuals worldwide “who are driving public engagement with climate change”.
The three nominees for the “Climate Change Communicator of the Year – People’s Choice Award” are
We think this is a nice occasion to appreciate engagement in climate change communication and have a look at other people’s work in the field.
Members of the general public are now invited to vote for one of the nominees, which you can do easily here. The vote closes already on Wednesday, 6 November 11:30pm BST – so be quick to participate. The nominee with the most votes wins.
Our colleagues at the University of Colorado Boulder Media and Climate Change Observatory (MECCO) have spotlighted a long-time high in newspaper reporting about climate change – a trend we can substantiate with our own data on other news outlets. In September, media attention to climate change and global warming was at its highest level globally in nearly a decade.
Continue reading Climate change reporting abounds in September
„Ich bin gewissermaßen gescheitert in der Klimakommunikation“. Mit diesem schwerwiegenden Eingeständnis eröffnete Mojib Latif, Klimaforscher und Vorsitzender des Deutschen Klima-Konsortiums, den Pressebrunch am zweiten Tag des K3 Kongresses zu Klimawandel, Kommunikation und Gesellschaft. Neben Latif standen noch drei weitere ExpertInnen den anwesenden JournalistInnen Rede und Antwort.
Continue reading Tag 2 des K3 Klimakongresses: Beichten zum Brunch
Mit 500 TeilnehmerInnen eröffnete am 24. September 2019 der K3 Klimakongress in Karlsruhe. Ohne Zweifel ist die Klimakommunikation ein Thema, welches viele verschiedene AkteurInnen betrifft. Die Organisatoren des K3 Kongresses können es also als Erfolg verbuchen, eine sehr bunte Mischung an AkteurInnen angelockt zu haben: 29% stammen aus der Wissenschaft, 19% aus der Politik & Verwaltung, 16% aus der Zivilgesellschaft, 13% aus den Medien, 9% aus der Wirtschaft und 9% aus dem Bereich Ausbildung/Studium (Quelle: S. Trümper, DKK).
Wenn am kommenden Wochenende der UN-Klimagipfel in New York beginnt, dürfte der mediale Aufmerksamkeitsstrudel um Klimaaktivistin Greta Thunberg noch einmal an Kraft gewinnen. Michael Brüggemann, Professor für Klima- und Wissenschaftskommunikation an der Universität Hamburg, kritisiert die Fokussierung der Berichterstattung auf die Person „Greta“ und die fehlende inhaltliche Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema. Außerdem erklärt er, was gängige Argumentationsmuster in der Klimaschutzdebatte mit einem Stau zu tun haben.
von Michael Brüggemann Continue reading Den Klimaschutz nicht zerreden – Vier Fallen der Klimakommunikation